It’s good to see that the Senate is working to fix the current energy bill, “Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2015.” Among the issues are land and water conservation, renewable energy, and improved efficiency. Under the current proposed revisions to the law, burning wood for energy would be considered renewable energy and carbon neutral, according to the NY Times article “An Energy Bill in Need of Fixes.” It is hard to understand how this can be deemed a carbon-neutral practice when it takes trees decades to mature but it only takes a few days to cut down an acre of them. On the up side, the conservation part of the proposed law will permanently fund the protection of undeveloped land.

The energy efficiency point of the article is a little confusing, though, stating that the energy bill will make it harder to write building codes. Energy efficiency is well covered in our current building codes and is updated and improved every three years. I believe the revisions to the bill are needed and that proposing conservation, renewable energy and improved efficiency in one bill is a huge step toward a creating an infrastructure of sustainable buildings.

Suzanne Sowinski is the founder and director of sustainable building at Sowinski Sullivan Architects, PC. She received her master’s degree in sustainable design over ten years ago. As a registered architect, she believes that the practice of architecture and the teaching of sustainable design are equally important in the 21st century.